INTERVIEW WITH THE HEAD OF "MODERNBUD" – ZBIGNIEW JUNIK
Of the construction companies in Bolesławiec, only "Modernbud" remains...
- There are also "Stalbud" and private companies. It is a shame about "bepu", that is, Bolesławieckie Przedsiębiorstwo Budowlane, because it was in a sense a company specializing in residential construction, with a base, finishing crews, suitable equipment and experience. We focused on industrial construction.
- Please tell us something about the company's origins.
- Przedsiębiorstwo Budowlano-Montażowe "Modernbud 3" Spółka z o.o. was established in 1989. We started out in headquarters located in barracks on Kościuszki Street. We had neither equipment nor any real estate. We are now based at a facility on Modłowa Street and have four of our own plants. Łaziska has a storage and equipment base for construction work. In Lubomierz there is a plant producing construction chemicals. In Osiecznica there is a sawmill hall. Raw material is cut there directly from the forests for our own needs. In December, we purchased a grain silo on Modłowa Street, where we are organizing a wholesale outlet for our own construction materials; we are also preparing to import materials from all over Poland and from some Western European countries.
- How many people does "Modernbud 3" employ?
- We employ 120 people, 90 percent of whom are production workers. Many of them are skilled professionals who gained experience on construction sites around Düsseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart and Novosibirsk, where our company participated as a subcontractor. Contacts with Western technology, and especially with good work organization, have proved very useful in Poland.
- Could you remind our readers about the construction projects you have completed?
- There are many of them; I may not list them all: production halls for "Ceramika Artystyczna" on Kościuszki Street, a school in Ocice, a residential and commercial building on Grunwaldzka Street, a production and service hall for WPHW, a residential building in Nowogrodziec, a sports hall in Lwówek, facilities in Żary, Zielona Góra, Głogów and Szklarska Poręba, and a school with a gymnasium in Warta Bolesławiecka, whose construction we want to shorten by three months...
Is construction the only area of "Modernbud's" activity?
- Our core activity is construction work, including design and supervision. We would prefer to stick with that, but two years ago we concluded that we needed to look for other production areas. We sensed that the recession in construction would be much deeper than in other sectors of the economy. That is why we prepared to manufacture construction materials and develop new technologies, which will be necessary when, for example, large-panel construction is phased out. The new directions include French-system prestressed-concrete beams with spans of up to 12 meters. Using the same system, we are preparing to produce roof trusses made of prestressed concrete. In addition, we will manufacture joinery, components for commercial pavilions, garden gazebos, and doors and windows made of PVC.
We are undertaking this production in cooperation with Buergmann, thanks to which 50 percent of the manufactured components will be sold in the territory of the former GDR. Buergmann is not the only Western company with which we cooperate.
In Lubomierz, based on licenses from ACSA KAS SEL, production has been launched of 17 types of construction chemicals, including wallpaper adhesives, emulsion and organic paints, filler, and so on, using raw materials that are 98 percent domestic.
Due to the high demand for these products, we intend to launch three-shift production. We export the finished products mainly to Germany, as well as to Switzerland, the Netherlands and Austria. The construction chemicals from Lubomierz are a high-quality product, also tested by ACSA Kassel.
- Do you also cooperate with the East?
- We are open to the West and the East, except that the distance to the eastern border is ten times greater. But we have already participated in the construction of a 17-story hotel in Novosibirsk, and in April of this year, together with the French and Germans, we will participate in the "VOLGA 93" Construction, Services and Trade Fair in Ulyanovsk. We will present construction chemicals there.
- And what about construction in Bolesławiec
- We are waiting for more favorable times for construction, especially residential construction. We even have some ideas for cheaper housing. We would most like to build in Bolesławiec.
(Because the President of "Modernbud" was called away to a very urgent telephone call from Novosibirsk, I thanked him for the interview.)